Stef Lach

I started my career in local newspapers, first as a junior reporter at the Lennox Herald before joining the Paisley Daily Express as a sports reporter. I then took the post of chief reporter at the Kilmarnock Standard. A period in public relations with Oxfam Scotland followed, before I moved to the Herald and Times Group in 2010 as a senior reporter. I cover the news beat in Lanarkshire and also report on mixed martial arts (MMA) for Herald Sport. I’m proudly South African and have lived in Scotland for 15 years.

TESTS ordered by a local authority in a row over toxic land on a Motherwell housing estate revealed levels of potentially harmful chemicals 5500% higher than the accepted standards, it was claimed in court.

Air ambulance and police helicopters are returning to service across the UK, after the model of helicopter which crashed into a pub killing ten people was suspended when a fault with the fuel gauge was detected on a flight.